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Arrestee's 'handsome' mug shot goes viral

Channing Joseph Associated Press

Posted:
06/20/2014 06:53:56 AM EDT

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This Wednesday, June 18, 2014, booking photo released by the Stockton Police Department shows Jeremy Meeks, 30, who was arrested Wednesday on felony weapons charges in Stockton, Calif. By late Thursday, his mug shot had garnered more than 33,000 "likes," and 10,400 comments, and had been shared more than 3,300 times on Facebook. (AP Photo/Stockton Police Department)

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A handsome mug shot of a Northern California man arrested on felony weapons charges has gone viral on social media, attracting more than 33,000 "likes" and drawing comments praising his high cheek bones, chiseled face and striking blue eyes.

Jeremy Meeks, 30, a convicted felon, was arrested Wednesday on five weapons charges and one gang charge, according to Officer Joseph Silva, a spokesman for the Stockton Police Department.

Silva declined to say what Meeks was previously convicted of, saying the department does not routinely release information about a suspect's criminal history.

No previous arrest photo has garnered so much positive attention since the department set up the Facebook page in March 2012, Silva told The Associated Press.

"I have not seen that many likes for a photo before," he said.

By late Thursday, Meeks' arrest photo had garnered more than 33,000 "likes," and 10,400 comments, and had been shared more than 3,300 times. Other postings on the site generally receive hundreds of "likes."

Meeks was one of four men taken into custody during Operation Ceasefire, a multiagency mission to curb a recent increase in shootings and robberies in the Weston Ranch area of Stockton, a Northern California city of about 300,000 nestled amid the network of waterways that form the Sacramento-San Joaquin River Delta.

Four firearms were confiscated during a sweep Wednesday involving the Stockton police gang unit, the FBI, the U.S. Marshals Task Force and other agencies.

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Silva called Meeks "one of the most violent criminals in the Stockton area," though he declined to provide any details on the crimes that Meeks is believed to have been involved in.

Meeks, who is being held in lieu of $900,000 bail, is scheduled to be arraigned Friday afternoon.